Film chronicles China’s rising global power

On Thursday, Northeastern will host a campus screening of Journey with the Giant, an extraordinary new documentary by the film’s writer, director, and producer James Gabbe (pictured above), a 1966 graduate. Photo courtesy of James Gabbe.

While on a busi­ness trip to China in 2010, James Gabbe was struck by the can­didly dra­matic obser­va­tion of the owner of a printing com­pany in Shen­zhen, who explained that that the East Asian nation would soon pass the United States as the world’s top eco­nomic powerhouse.

Gabbe, a 1966 North­eastern grad­uate with a bachelor’s degree in his­tory, was inspired by the con­ver­sa­tion and set out to make a doc­u­men­tary exploring the validity of China’s rise to global stardom, how it has hap­pened, and what it means to the United States and other nations. His obser­va­tions are deliv­ered largely through the eyes of the Chi­nese people in Journey with the Giant, which will be screened at North­eastern on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. in West Vil­lage F. The public event is pre­sented by the Col­lege of Arts, Media and Design.

“We’ve stayed away from focusing on the polit­i­cally repres­sive nature of the Bei­jing gov­ern­ment and other things you can read about in the press every day,” Gabbe said. “What hasn’t gotten through is that real story of human striving and accom­plish­ment that’s hap­pening on a daily basis in China. This film is about us get­ting right in with the people.”

Gabbe, an accom­plished writer, pho­tog­ra­pher and video director/​producer, is co-​​owner of gabbe­group, a public rela­tions and mar­keting firm in New York City. The company’s print and dig­ital pub­lishing arm, Racon­teur, pro­duced the documentary.

After a year of exten­sive research, Gabbe and his co-​​producer/​cameraman trekked through China as tourists—to avoid the restric­tions typ­i­cally placed on for­eign film­makers. They filmed in nearly 20 loca­tions and met people from all walks of life—from fac­tory workers and mer­chants to clerics and teachers.

Gabbe observed that many people he met were quite knowl­edge­able about life in the West; con­versely, he noted that many Amer­i­cans appear to know little about China and its people beyond the eco­nomic and polit­ical issues cap­tured in main­stream media head­lines. Per­haps related, he said, is the skep­ti­cism he encoun­ters fre­quently about China’s long-​​term prospects as a global dynamo.

“Many people in the U.S. flatly deny that China has staying power,” said Gabbe, noting that China’s rise to promi­nence has occurred in just 20 to 30 years, an astound­ingly short period of time com­pared with the 150 years it has taken the U.S. and the rest of the West.

While the idea for Journey with the Giant ger­mi­nated from the meeting in Shen­zhen a few years ago, Gabbe explained that his North­eastern expe­ri­ence served as an early and very impor­tant foun­da­tion for the project. For one, he was an ROTC cadet and was com­mis­sioned as an Army officer upon grad­u­a­tion; he served in Vietnam in 1970–71. There, he devel­oped a fas­ci­na­tion with Asia and recalled being “struck by the energy there,” which gave him an early inkling that some­thing big was brewing in the region.

Gabbe also pointed to his co-​​op expe­ri­ences, which aug­mented the appre­ci­a­tion for his­tory that he devel­oped in his North­eastern courses. He worked along­side pro­fes­sional his­to­rians at the Statue of Lib­erty, the Theodore Roo­sevelt Summer White House and Birth­place, and the Fed­eral Hall National Memo­rial on Wall Street—the site of George Washington’s first pres­i­den­tial inau­gu­ra­tion and the home of the first Con­gress, Supreme Court, and Exec­u­tive Branch offices. Gabbe’s co-​​op work ranged from con­ducting research to serving as a tour guide.

“It was the co-​​op expe­ri­ence that solid­i­fied my love for get­ting out into the world and learning his­tory where it hap­pened,” he said. “My Journey with the Giant started with North­eastern and co-​​op.”

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About the Writer

Greg St. Martin is the senior editor for news@Northeastern. He joined Northeastern in March 2010 after working at a Boston newspaper for six years. Outside the office, he enjoys playing basketball, basking in the glory of finding great parking spots, and listening to the comic genius of Steven Wright. Follow on Twitter: @gstmartinNU

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